Your knowledge portal to leadership and management

Resources

In addition to a weekly leadership post on my blog, you’ll find a variety of thought pieces on this page. Simply click on the links below with the topic titles to download the pdf file.

I’ll also post from time to time a leadership book that I highly recommend.

As always, I welcome your comments and feedback.

Happy reading,

Jim

There are courageous people, and then there are courageous people with vision, focus and intense determination. Since she was a little girl growing up in Pakistan’s Swat Valley, Malala Yousafzai knew that her mission was to help others, specifically to ensure that all Pakistani girls receive an education.

Malala’s efforts almost resulted in her death in October 2012 when a Taliban assassin fired a 45 caliber round into her head while she was on her way to school in a small bus with other girls. She miraculously survived, and from current home in Birmingham, England, she has launched a vigorous campaign to advocate for the right to education for all girls. She has spoken at the United Nations, was on the short list for the 2013 Nobel Peace Prize and named by TIME as one of the world’s most influential people in 2013.

Her book I am Malala is a riveting read on her growing up in the Swat Valley and her journey to become an outspoken advocate for girls. It should be on everyone’s reading list, especially for those serious about leadership.

The Networked Organization The roles for each of the four leadership groups shown in this diagram are not mutually exclusive. Rather, they represent where each group needs to focus in the context of a larger leadership picture. Taking an integrated approach to the roles of these four leadership groups will produce the necessary spark and momentum for cultural change and the emergence of a true Learning Organization.

Conversation and Tacit Knowledge “Conversation” has become a word of choice in organiations. Over the past several years, many of those working in organizations have learned about the important role that conversation plays in creating a learning organization. What’s important to stress is meaningful conversational interactions among people and taking time to reflect together to get to know one another better.

The Five Learning Disciplines This article looks at Peter Senge’s work, drawing from his book The Fifth Discipline, as well as from The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook. In addition to the five disciplines and what they mean for learning and leadership in organizations, we’ll examine the seven learning disabilities. Understanding what these disabilities represent, and the impact they have on how organizations function, is critical to developing a more complete picture of the organizational learning process.

Personal Insights into Leadership Getting to know one-self plays an especially important role in leadership development. Without a strong understanding of one’s strengths, weaknesses, gifts and warts, it’s very difficult to really grow as a leader. By leader we’re not referring to leadership equals position but instead leadership regardless of position. What is a leader then? A leader has followers. If you don’t have willing followers, then you’re not a leader.

10 Ways to Get Your Staff to Love You The following ten ways to gain respect from your staff is not the definitive list, but rather drawn from my personal experiences. Adhering to them will set you on the right path to excellence in leadership, but always keep in mind that this is a never-ending process of self-enlightenment and personal growth.

Reflective Leadership This fictional conversation serves as a segue to delve into the inner side of leadership. Leadership development has traditionally been based on an externalized approach. People take training courses that instruct them on the desirable qualities of leaders and how they should act. Training has relied on old assumptions about leadership. In particular, the “heroic” approach to leadership still prevails in some areas of leadership development.

Will that be Leadership or Management Development? Integrating the Right Hand with the Left Hand While the avalanche of new books and articles on leadership has contributed to raising the level of understanding on the subject, it’s also created confusion, relegating management as a discipline to the back burner. Only recently are a few prominent writers beginning to stress the importance of management practices in organizations and the need to integrate this discipline with that of leadership development.

Why Community Service Matters We live in a society that has become more inward-looking. We lead busy lives – raising children, building careers, tending to ageing parents, enrolling in adult education, travelling to exotic locations ­ and trying to stay fit and healthy. We face rapid technological change, struggling to keep up with it. These trends are steadily reshaping society. What may fall in the cracks is a vital aspect of what has helped define Canadians and Americans as caring and compassionate people: service to our communities.

Accountability and the Role of Leadership Accountability has become one of those buzz words used in organizations that make people wince. However, to engage the hearts and minds of people requires, among other things, the creation of an environment in which they want to take initiative, be creative, and accept the consequences for their actions, both positive and negative.

10 Leadership Lessons These 10 lessons are not aimed at just those who wish to move into managerial positions; they’re also for those who work as project managers, team leaders, thought leaders, and relationship builders.

Authentic Leadership – A Personal Philosophy This short paper shares some of what I’ve learned over 15 plus years as a student of leadership. I hope to challenge readers to take the time in the weeks ahead to reflect on their own personal leadership and to ask themselves the question: “Am I an authentic leader?”

The Passionate Leader This short article examines why passion is an essential ingredient of a leader’s effectiveness and success. Having a broad repertoire of leadership styles is important in order to meet the needs of one’s followers.

Masters Thesis on Shared Leadership This research project examined the concept of shared leadership in a large federal service delivery office. Three key questions served as the foundation to the project: 1) Can the organization create an environment of shared leadership? 2) What are the major challenges to creating this environment? 3) Why should the organization make this a goal?

Recommended Reading I have read all the books listed and found them very informative, some especially. Please email me if you would like to discuss any of them.